Section 121 The Dilemma of the 34th Division

On Yuntou Mountain, the commander of the 34th Division, He Mao, couldn't help but burst into a rage when he heard the news from the south. Thinking about a day ago, he was still thinking about how to fight the next battle after winning Shanggao? A day later, he could only think about how to retreat to the front line of Xishan Wanshou Palace with the division, this huge gap made him eager to pull out his knife and cut down the gang of men on the side. "And that damn 33rd Division! Damn Sakurai Shomi! Oga Shigeru couldn't help but think hatefully.

Looking at the face and murderous expression of the division commander Tie Qing, the 216 wing captain on the side, Ishikawa Akira, couldn't help but bow his head in shame. Earlier, when he had laid out a defensive line on the mountain ridge leading to here, he had said that this squadron could buy the division at least more than a day. But how long has it been? It seems that the genius has not been dark for long, and the position has already been lost. This reminded him of the battle in the field market in the morning, the third brigade of heavy troops stationed in the field market, but it did not even last half a day, and was completely annihilated by the enemy, those terrible enemies, really like a hurricane swept by, everything in front of him, helplessly wiped out.

"Ishikawa-kun, I'll hand over the defense line on the left flank of Yuntou Mountain to you, although the 216 Wing has suffered a lot of losses in these sieges and land grabbing, but this battle has reached the critical moment of the life and death of the division, and Yuntou Mountain must not make any more mistakes." Ogamo wanted to reprimand two sentences. But thinking that Ishikawa Akira has always been his subordinate who has always relied on him, and the 216th Wing is also a sharp weapon for the division to attack the city, he couldn't help but change his tone and said.

His attitude suddenly moved Ishikawa Ming, who was hanging his head, and he immediately raised his head, straightened his body and said: "Your Excellency, rest assured, I will personally go to the front to set up defenses, no matter how many troops the people of China kill, I will definitely block the enemy army from Yuntou Mountain." ”

Looking at the kind of decisive confidence that Ishikawa Akira showed, Oga Shigeru couldn't help but nod as well, he patted Ishikawa Akira on the shoulder and said, "Go ahead!" The warriors of the Empire should fall on the road of opening up the territory for the Empire, and if we can exchange our blood for the expansion of the Empire's territory, as soldiers, we will be willing to sacrifice. ”

"Hi" All the Japanese soldiers on the side responded loudly when they heard this, and the mood that was originally a little low at this moment was also greatly improved in an instant.

Ishikawa Akira's hurried departure and the loss of the front-line mountain undoubtedly brought great pressure to the front line of Yuntou Mountain. Although this continuous mountain range is very strong as a defensive line, with their strength, it took a great deal of cost and effort to repel the enemy a few days ago, but if the enemy army is really allowed to kill here easily, the pressure on the entire division will be great, and the possibility of Yuntou Mountain being lost is not very likely. However, under the onslaught of the enemy, it will be very difficult to adjust the division and regiment at that time, and it is very likely that the movement of the entire division and regiment will be affected because it is too late to make changes.

Watching Akira Ishikawa leave like a meteor, Oga Shigeru also nodded with satisfaction, believing that with him, it was unlikely that the enemy would want to take a step forward. However, as soon as his mood here eased a little, the communications officer on the side hurriedly came over and reported: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency Ikeda has telegraphed the 20th Brigade to order that the 20th Brigade has been ordered to seize Gao'an. However, they were attacked by the enemy on a large scale before they could gain a firm foothold, and judging from the strength of the troops, the enemy forces on the Gao'an front line had at least three infantry divisions or more. His Excellency Ikeda said that the 20th Brigade had been fighting bloody battles on the south bank of the Geumjin River for more than 10 days, and now it was exhausted, and its troops were at a great disadvantage, and it was very likely that it would not be able to guarantee the safety of the line from Gao'an to Sixi. ”

Hearing this, Oga Mao couldn't help frowning and said, "Hasn't the Gao'an front line always been under the control of our army?" How could so many enemy troops pop up? When the communications officer on the side heard his question, his eyes immediately widened and he didn't know how to answer, after all, in this complex situation, all his energy was focused on communication and the aggregation of various news, and he really didn't have the energy to take care of the judgment and analysis of such a situation. However, Oga Mao immediately snorted coldly and said, "Baga, the Chinese army is ready to encircle our division." ”

The communications officer on the side was obviously taken aback by the news, but in front of the division commander, where did he, such a small officer, come from to inquire about the qualifications? I could only widen my eyes and look full of fear. Tokutaro Sakurai, chief of staff of the 34th Division, rushed over from the side at this time, and when he saw the situation here, he waved his hand at the communications officer. As if he had been granted amnesty, the communications officer immediately let out a long breath, saluted, and walked away quickly, as if fleeing for his life.

"Dahejun, the situation is a little bad, the army on the left flank of the Chinese army has already moved south, and it seems that it is preparing to encircle our army." Sakurai Tokutaro didn't care about anything else at this time, and as soon as the communications officer left, he said eagerly.

Oga Mao couldn't help but scolded angrily: "It's all Sakurai Province, this bastard, the preset battle plan before the battle is waste paper in front of him, originally according to the three-way parallel strategy, in this distance of more than 200 miles, the Chinese army has no chance of encirclement and the possibility of dividing our army." What if the Chinese army had 100,000 troops in northern Jiangxi? In this kind of short-range combat, there is not enough space and time to adjust the response, and the only thing they can do other than to fight head-on is to mobilize heavy troops to defeat one of our three routes. But as long as the Chinese army really dares to do this, they are finished, once their troops are gathered, the other two sides of the defense line will inevitably be weak, in the case of large-scale reinforcement of aviation, the other two armies can definitely conquer Shanggao in a very short time, and then the Chinese army's troops will be surrounded unless they retreat in time. ”

As the reference formulator of the entire battle plan of this battle, how could Tokutaro Sakurai not know all the aspects that were taken into account when formulating the overall tactics? After all, the combined forces of the three routes have 50,000 troops, and unless the Chinese army mobilizes the troops of the entire Ninth Theater, it is nonsense to encircle and annihilate them, and it is even too late in time.

However, these seemingly impossible situations are really in front of them at this moment. And they did not calculate that in such a large-scale attack operation, the 33rd Division on the right would make so many mistakes, deviate from the original offensive line without any necessity, and then rashly withdraw to Fengxin, completely relinquishing the flank of the entire 34th Division in the center.

"Your Excellency, what shall we do now? Overnight retreat? Sakurai Tokutaro was obviously a little disheartened at this time, and he really couldn't figure out how this battle could be fought like this. Although the 33rd Division was negligent, it obviously met the initial expectations, attracting the vast majority of the Chinese army's troops, and the enemy troops in front of them were only more than 10,000 people at one time. However, it is these more than 10,000 people who have not been annihilated until now, and they have always lacked a breath from the top of the battle, and it is this last step that has not been achieved, which has made their full plan fall into complete passivity. At this time, Sakurai Tokutaro obviously has no other ideas, as long as he can safely withdraw to the front line of Manshou Palace, it is already the best ending of this battle. Think of it as accumulating experience for attacking Kamigao, Tokutaro Sakurai thought to himself.

Oga Shigeru listened to his words, but he fell into deep thought, he came back and paced a few steps, then slowly shook his head and said, "Sakurai-kun, it's too late for us to retreat now. ”

Looking at Sakurai Tokutaro's puzzled expression, Oga Shigeru couldn't help but say angrily: "It's all to blame for the 33rd Division, which didn't say a word when retreating, causing our actions to be slower than the enemy for a full day and a half." Now, we are more than 100 miles away from Gao'an, and it will take at least a day, and the troops on the enemy's left flank have reached the front line of Gao'an, and they have plenty of time to build fortifications along the way, and enough time to adjust the deployment of troops. It is not easy for Ikeda-kun's troops to hold Takaan, and it is impossible to expect them to take the initiative to reinforce us, in which case once we evacuate, we will be in a situation where we will be in a situation of constantly assaulting the enemy's lines, and at that point, there will be interceptions in front and pursuers in the back, and it will be really doomed. ”

Sakurai Tokutaro was in a cold sweat when he heard this, but he was also a smart person, and he quickly figured this out, and then he said helplessly: "Your Excellency, can we just wait in place and wait for the 33rd Division to come over and relieve the siege?" ”

Oga Shigeru sneered and said: "Sakurai Province ran too fast, this time I will trouble him to run one step faster to come back to meet us, if our army is wiped out because of their evacuation, he will wait for us to be buried!" I heard that the base camp has decided to transfer him back to his homeland? After we were finished, I saw where he came from and went back to his homeland. ”

"I heard that Chief of Staff Kinoshita has arrived in Nanchang, with them, Sakurai Province III may not dare to make any more assertions, the 33rd Division going south is just a matter of a few days, as long as we hold on here until the 33rd Division is killed, we can withdraw safely. Although the current situation looks more difficult, Sakurai-kun should not be too pessimistic, the Chinese army wants to eat us in one bite, it is not so easy, Gao'an is only a day's journey here, within one day, will the Chinese army take Yuntou Mountain? After Oga Shigeru was angry, he also calmed down, and his tone gradually returned to his usual confidence, and his tone immediately made Sakurai Tokutaro on the side see hope.